The present invention relates to a hand brake control mechanism, and more particularly to such a hand brake control mechanism designed for use with a wheeled apparatus, for example, a walker, and operated to stop the wheels of the walker.
Various folding collapsible and non-collapsible walkers have been disclosed for use to support the user when walking. Exemplars are seen in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,907,794 and 5,020,560. Because regular walkers for this purpose are commonly equipped with wheels, hand brake means is necessary. Conventional hand brakes for walkers cannot be maintained in the braking position when released from the hand. U.S. Pat. No. 5,279,180 (equivalent to Taiwan Pat. No. 199339) discloses a hand brake for walker that can be moved to a temporary braking position, or a continuous braking position. When the operation handle of the hand brake is turned downwards to the continuous braking position, the operation handle is retained engaged with a mounting base, and the brake cable is maintained stretched. This structure of hand brake is still not satisfactory in function. The drawbacks of this structure of hand brake are as follows:
1. Frequently moving the operation handle over the engagement area at the mounting base causes the contact area to wear, and the operation handle becomes unable to be firmly retained in the continuous braking position when the contact area begins to wear.
2. Because the engagement force between the operation handle and the mounting base must surpass the return force of the brake cable, much effort should be applied to the operation handle when turning the operation handle to the continuous braking position.